Stops on The Road
by thatgirlstaring
Summary: My collection of one shots, different pairings mainly IchiRuki, RenRuki. First time publishing so reviews and suggestions welcome. Enjoy.
1. Wrinkles are The Devil

Wrinkles are the Devil

One shots. I love one shots, especially collections of them. So I thought I would try my hand at some. Tell me what you think please, these are my first Bleach fanfics so you know…. Please be somewhat kind.

She was finally 'out' to his family, as far as they knew she was just some helpless girl who desperately needed a place to stay. So here was the midget, Rukia Kuchiki, being handed a dress fresh washed, still hot from the dryer, by Ichigo, who consequently had been minding his own business when Yuzu had told him to give it to Rukia.

"Why do you have my dress?" She had snatched it from his hands and held it to her in a bundle, wrinkling it in the process.

He scratched the back of his head as he looked up at the ceiling trying to ignore her grouching and the awareness of the smell of the dress she had yanked from him. "Well Yuzu told me to give it to you since she had just washed it, and cause she had to go help my dad with a patient." He scowled down at her as she stood there looking at the wrinkled dress and then looked up at him with contempt that she only saved for Renji.

"Well she should have known you would wrinkle it beyond all imagining." Rukia turned to go down the hall to the bathroom to continue on with her business when Ichigo started to yell.

"What do you mean I wrinkled it?!" He stared at her back as she slowly turned around to look at him as if he were stupid. "I mean look at it!" She shook it out and held it up for him to see the deep wrinkles that, indeed, were all over it.

His eye twitched as he looked at it and snatched it from her. "You wrinkled it when you grabbed it from me being a little snot! You should know better by now not to-"He didn't get to finish whatever he was saying because there was an elbow in his side and a very angry midget at his front taking aim for another blow.

"Hey!" he dodged her next attack aimed at his head and grabbed her by the wrists holding her at arms length. "What the hell?! Why did you hit me like that?!" She glared at him and yanked her wrists back, "How dare you call me little snot!" She kicked him in the shins and yanked the wrinkly dress back from Ichigo as he hopped around on one foot glaring at her with his full force.

Then it hit him, he hadn't called her a little snot since they had met, but it hadn't bothered her at all, it seemed, back then. Though he hadn't known her even a third as well as he did now, and she had paralyzed him for it. "Rukia…" he stood up from clutching his injured leg and stepped toward her, "I'm sorry." She turned around to look at him the livid expression apparent in her large eyes.

Rukia looked at the floor and then at her dress and turned to walk away without saying a word, he deserved it she thought, for her to be angry at him, she let him get away with so much. He could call her midget, shorty, idiot, but not snot, never snot. It had bothered her when he had first called her that, and she had punished him for it, but now that they knew each other as they did, it hurt her somewhere deep in her feelings to know that he could still hurt her like that, even if he didn't know it. She heard movement behind her and turned just in time to see Ichigo, reach out to touch her shoulder, "Don't, you've said enough. I'm going to go…I'll talk to you later." She walked to her original destination before this all started and shut the door to the bathroom, leaving Ichigo standing in the hallway hand outstretched to where she had stood not a moment before.

The running water from down the hall made him break out of his trance and walk to the door, the smell of her clothes, fresh and hot from the laundry still hung in the air as he waited for her to come out of the bathroom so he could apologize properly.

Yes yes…I know its stupid that Rukia got upset about something that small, as being called a little snot. But really I had a friend that used to insult me in a cute way and then he said it in all seriousness and it cut deep. So yeah, it could happen. Please review, I've never had one.


	2. Bath

Bath

Hello there! I'm back, I hope you liked the first chapter, I'm going to try to update weekly, been terribly bored lately. You can give me prompts and stuff if you would like, much appreciated, For now it'll be RenRuki, or IchiRuki, I write what I know, I guess. Ha! Thanks for reading.

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They were dirty, and not just a little dirty, extremely dirt, grimy, filthy, whatever words you would like to use for it that's what they were as they pulled themselves out of the secret room below Urahara's shop where they had been training for the past three hours.

"I can't believe you did that." Rukia grouched as she tried to wipe sweat off of her brow only to succeed in getting dirt smudged on the offending area. Renji looked down at her and handed her his bandana. "I didn't mean to, it just happened."

She took the bandana and looked at in mild disgust, "I'm not using this." She tossed it back at him, it had once been white and clean, and at this moment it was brown and slightly damp from where he had sweat into it. "We need to bathe if were going to be anywhere near clean ever again."

Renji caught the 'offensive' material she had thrown at him and shook it out to wipe his own face and then thought better of it upon closer inspection. "Well, Urahara has a bath across the hall from my room." He was staying there again and had gotten the smallest room next to the bathrooms, not the best, but better than staying with that damn Ichigo. "What are you doing?!" He practically screeched as he turned a shade of red slightly off from his own hair.

"What does it look like?" She had taken off the outer layer of her Shihaksho, and had left only the white under layer as she walked down the hall slightly less filthy than she had been with the shedding of the clothing. "Come on Renji, you've seen me with less clothing when we were kids." He seemed to be having trouble breathing from the wheezing sound coming from behind her.

He was still red when he walked past her and into his own room to leave her to her devices, the only comfort he got from the situation was that Urahara was out along with everyone else and wouldn't be in the house to 'accidentally' see Rukia like this. "Yeah, okay well… just hurry up." She waved behind her as she shut the door.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Renji was currently smacking himself in the forehead for not taking the chance to do what he had wanted to for so long. He had loved her for so long, and her walking down the hall undressing had almost been his downfall, why couldn't he have just done what he wanted, only once? "Stupid coward." He stood up as he heard his door sliding open and there she stood damp and flushed from the hot water and steam holding her dirty clothes away from her and trying to hold the towel close to her body as it started to slip Renji jumped forward and took her clothes.

And they stood there, close, looking at each other, one barely clothed, the other barely breathing at the proximity. "I…" He stared at her as she started to blush a bit at the circumstance, "What?" She shifted uncomfortably and looked at the spot on his wall just past his ear. "Do you-" Something collided with her and she tensed up as she tried to figure out what it was.

"Love" She heard only one word as she regained her senses enough to realize that it was Renji holding her to him as he kissed her again and again, from her earlobe to her lips and back again. "I love you." The entire sentence, barely a whisper, made everything go blurry as she grabbed onto him, trying to anchor herself to him, like the day he had run with her and refused to let her go.

As they lay on his bed together later, Rukia will think of one complaint to voice out loud: "You got me dirty again."

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Jeez… I've got a thing for bathing don't I? Comes from having one bathroom in a family of five, never enough time to enjoy yourself. Wont happen again, I promise. Maybe. Remember: Reviewing is the key to writing. Oh and thanks to the one person who did review, I loved your constructiveness, I will try better next chapter.


	3. Realization of Need

There is no bathing in this one, I promise. Anyways, hope you like it, and REVIEW for petes sake. Thank you, enjoy!

Oh yeah, I forgot this in the first two chapters…..

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach, if I did I wouldn't have student loans now would I?

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Realization of Need

On two separate occasions Ichigo had realized that he really liked if not loved Rukia. He wasn't sure if it was love or not but he really needed her, he felt his day wasn't

complete without being drawn on or beaten for doing something stupid.

The first of these two incidents was only weeks after they had first met and since become inseparable, much to the interest of the entire student body. He had wanted the day off, his depression and hate for himself keeping her from asking for a fuller explanation.

No was the initial answer, he figured she would stay home, leave him in peace to mourn the death of his mother, and sink deeper into the pit of self loathing and blame he had dug for himself ever since that day six years ago. He should have known that she would show up sooner or later, but he had assumed that she would be discreet about it, not just show up waving at the top of the hill with the biggest smile plastered on her face.

Making some excuses to his sisters he hurried up the hill to get her out of their line of sight before they started asking to many questions. Rukia had asked and poked and prodded until he had told her that he was his mothers killer, that it was his fault she had been slaughtered and had her soul sucked out of her and devoured by a monster that, at the time, he couldn't see.

Ichigo didn't want to talk to her anymore, he left her there knowing that she hadn't meant it in that way, but it felt good to be blamed, to have someone know that it was his fault that his mother had been snatched from his family. He didn't have much time to dwell on it because he needed to fight, for him, his family and for his mother, he needed to make it better somehow.

He hadn't won, not in his perspective, but Rukia held him up as best she could as he yelled to the sky that he wasn't finished, for Grand Fisher to come back and fight him.

Falling was slow, Ichigo didn't just crumple, Rukia was still holding him, her small arms trying her best to keep him from falling to fast. They were warm, he remembers that, he remembers laying in her lap, her arms resting on both of his shoulders. He faded in and out as she healed him and thanked him over and over for surviving, thanking him like it would have killed her if he had died. She was gone when he spoke with his father, and she was asleep, curled on her side when he peeked into his closet later that night.

Ichigo could still feel her arms sometimes, warm and comforting, she had never held him like that again, never again like her life depended on his. He realized that day and the weeks after that, that he may or may not love her.

The second occasion that he remembered being sure that he loved her was when he caught her doing something completely human and silly that he couldn't help but love her. Everyone was gone for the day, Yuzu was out shopping, Karin was playing soccer and his dad was doing whatever his dad did when he went out. Ichigo had been over at Keigos' house with Chad when he decided to come home early to find the house filled with loud, bouncy, pop music.

Ichigos' eye twitched as he opened the back door and entered, in the back of his mind he wondered what she could be doing, but most of his brain was focused on the task of turning off the radio. He didn't make it far before something made him stop and look. Rukia was standing in the living room in front of the stereo with a brush held in one hand singing at the top of her lungs and dancing around.

He couldn't help it, he chuckled, it was the strangest and cutest thing he had ever seen her do, besides that time at the pet shop when the bunny had snuggled under her hand. She turned, "What are you doing!?" She dropped the brush and turned three shades of red before composing herself and standing with her hands behind her back looking at him straight in the eye.

"I could ask you the same thing, didn't know you liked that kind of music." he shrugged and went past her patting the top of her head and turning off the radio. "Not so loud next time, I could hear it all the way outside, and we do have neighbors." She looked at him and picked up the brush again not sure if the teasing was about to start or not. "Okay, I didn't realize." She tucked her hair behind her ears and looked over at him, "Um… don't tell anyone about this okay?" She was embarrassed beyond all words.

"I wont." he turned around and gave a small smile, while somehow keeping some of his scowl. He knew then that he loved her, and he couldn't explain why.

Two unrelated, serious and stupid occasions, Ichigo had realized that he needed her around him if he was going to live a happy life. He wanted her around him, to watch her sing like an idiot to a song that gave him a headache, and he need her to hold him when he showed weakness by losing copious amounts of blood and blaming himself.

That was why he fought with everything he had, trained until his hands bled from holding onto his sword, almost became a hollow, and was kicked around by a little girl. To save her he would do anything, he would never stop trying to save her, if she died he wasn't sure what would happen to him. Finding out was not an option, he would bleed and hide and face death and unimaginable odds so that he could have her back with him, where she belonged.

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Thank you again for reading. I hope it was better than the last two, I think I'm getting the hang of it. Remember, review and I'll give you a plate of cookies.


	4. Hands

**Ya'll don't deserve cookies, so I'm not promising them anymore. But I would still appreciate it if you were to review. I listen to music a lot at work and these stories are actually inspired by songs that I've heard at one time or another. So enjoy this one dangit, and remember review, please.**

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**Hands**

**Rukia was small in all accounts, small body, small head, small limbs, and small hands. Renji on the other hand was big and tall and loud, his hair, his height, and his hands. They noticed these things as one would notice a gust of wind or a falling leaf, it was noticed but not fully acknowledged.**

**Funny how abrupt life changes can make you stand at full attention and take notice of the things you had previously taken for granted. **

**Rukia heard him coming before he burst through the door to announce his good luck with the test. The loud sound of his feet pounding the floorboards as he threw himself towards the room, the shouts of 'I'm sorry!' and 'Pardon me' echoing down the hall. She couldn't make herself turn towards the door to see him enter even though she knew the exact moment he would be coming in. Rukia turned after he burst in, she sucked in all the air she could hold to gain the courage to turn and look at him from the corner of her eye.**

**She didn't hear any of what he said, she saw his face, the shock, she noticed his fingers twitching as if he wanted to reach out. She didn't respond to the Kuchiki elder as he patted her shoulder and wished for her favorable answer, they were going to let her decide, but she didn't know what to do.**

"**Those were some pretty important visitors you had there." He tried to sound happy, she could tell when he was lying or uneasy, they had been together for to long. She walked towards him, "So what was that all about?" Rukia looked away, she didn't know how to answer him, she didn't know what to say. "Oh I see, so it's a secret huh?" He was getting irritated, they never hid anything from one another, not ever, they were to close.**

**Rukia explained, they wanted to adopt her, the highest ranking house in the Soul Society wanted her for their daughter, she wanted someone else to answer for her, she didn't want to give her own. She needed him to tell her what to do, it was weak and stupid but she needed it and Renji knew.**

"**That's great!" his hands were so big, she had noticed of course but she had never noticed just how big they were. They draped down her back touching the tips of her shoulder blades, it made her want to shiver but she held it in. Rukia didn't want him to think that it bothered her for him to touch her. She listened to him go on and on about how lucky she was, the message was loud and clear, but strangely not the one she wanted to hear.**

**She stood for a moment, still and quiet as she listened to him and felt his hands pat her shoulders. Rukia didn't want to hurt him but he had given his answer, and she had to respect that.**

**Cold, her hands were cold and small, they barely wrapped around his wrist, Renji couldn't understand why she had reached up and put her hand on him. They had touched plenty of times but this seemed more intimate than any other time, he could feel her hand, gently on his wrist as if she were afraid she might break him, funny thing was he could hardly feel it, like it didn't weigh anything.**

**Renji choked, like it stung, it cut off his forced cheer and laughter, he hated them, those nobles that were taking her away. She was his, but he wanted her to have a better life, something more than he could give her, maybe one day he would be good enough, but not today, he was not good enough to stop her.**

**The first tear caught him by surprise, he hadn't seen her cry since the last of their friends had died, that had happened in front of her, she had had nightmares for weeks. These were the same tears, pain and understanding mixed into one salty mess, and he couldn't stop them this time, he didn't even have the strength to cover her hand with his and tell her to stay.**

**Cold hands and wet tears, that was the last he saw or felt of her for years, he knew he had screwed up but he was fixing it, or trying anyways.**

**Warm and big, his hands were something that she missed terribly, and even when they were around her throat holding her dangling from a light pole she almost cried a little from relief that she could feel them again.**

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**Well that was short, I'm going to ask you to review again but really I'm losing faith in you people. Come on its not that hard.**


	5. FCFH

**The Filler chapter From Hell!!!!**

**(not really)**

**Hey guys, or girls, whichever… I need ideas. See…you not reviewing is bad for my mental and physical health so now I've run out of ideas. Everything on this planet needs feedback, from my short little nonsensical stories to that tiny little flower outside, don't give the flower water and it will die. Don't give me reviews and I turn on myself and cant write. So please, if you have a request for a pairing or story or idea please share them with me and I'll do my best. **

**Sorry for the filler chapter but I had to, ya'll are just plain lazy not reviewing, I know people are reading, doesn't take that much effort. **

**Thanks so much in advance and sorry for the tease to those of you who actually look forward to reading what I write. I appreciate you more than you know even if you don't push that little button.**


	6. Watching

**Meanies, that's all you are. Fine, I don't care what you think anyways.**

**All disclaimers apply, loan officers are best kept back with a pointy stick.**

**Watching**

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**Dark, that's all, and the faint outline of clothing hanging above, a subtle smell of someone else, almost entirely erased by the constant contact with a second party. Ichigos closet was small, basically just a hole in the wall that had barely enough room to hang his clothes, you wouldn't think someone could live in it. She did though, day in and day out she would crawl into his closet and curl up onto the little bed she had made in there and sleep, or not. **

**Most of the time she didn't have any trouble sleeping, Ichigo teased her that she snored in her sleep and kept him awake, but she knew that wasn't true, if anything he slept like a rock wished it could.**

**Tonight was different, she had been in bed before he had even gotten home, which was unusual. Rukia usually got home the same time as he did, if only because she wasn't to comfortable with leaving him alone incase a hollow attacked, but tonight had been different, he had almost died, and she had left him. She had healed him as best she could and had put him back in his body before leaving to deal with her own trauma.**

**The rain had reminded her unpleasantly of that night, and when it had started to fall and mix with the blood she had thought the worst: what if she couldn't save him? What if he died too?**

"**Don't, please don't…." She chanted it for what seemed like hours until he was healed enough to survive, and then she left him there, to go 'home' and curl in on herself. She had slept, not heavily though, she had heard the closet door open but didn't open her eyes. Rukia waited for him to tell her he quit, to blame her for all of his pain, but though the closet door stayed open for what felt like a very long time he didn't say anything. She was drifting again and wasn't sure if she was dreaming when she felt him touch her cheek before the door closed again.**

**Waking up from a nightmare is bad enough when you know it wasn't real, but waking up from a nightmare that actually happened is ten times worse. Rukia's first instinct was to curl up in a ball and cry, but she was a Kuchiki and they never cried, her brother was a living testament to that.**

**So she didn't cry, she just laid there, her heart pounding off the adrenaline that had woken her up when she started to hear something she hadn't noticed before, the sound of music. Ichigo had probably turned his radio on sometime in the night, and gone to sleep with it on, but there were no words, just the sound of a guitar. Rukia listened and heard wrong notes, things not heard on radio as far as she knew, and the sound would stop every now and then as if whoever was making the music was readjusting themselves. Ichigo coughed, and the playing resumed she was sure now that it wasn't the radio but Ichigo playing the guitar. She checked her phone, 4:00 a.m., what was he doing playing the guitar at four in the morning?**

**Slowly, silent as she could Rukia slid the closet door open enough to peek through to his bed where he sat on the edge and strummed a guitar. She wasn't sure what to make of this, sure she had seen the instrument propped up against his wall but she had just thought it was there for decoration, or a gift he had never used, not that he actually kept it around to play it.**

**Watching him as he strummed much to late at night she realized something: she didn't know even half as much about him as she assumed, and for that she felt guilty. She wanted to say something to him, to apologize for the way she had left him, but her hands and fingers seemed to burn with the memory of the wounds she had healed. Inside she knew she would bring him nothing but pain, which she had already begun to, so she closed the closet door and instead of watching him, she watched the ceiling.**

**They would come for her, that much she knew, and already Rukia was in to deep with him. So, to make things easier on them both she would keep it distant, she wouldn't even allow herself to touch him unless it was drastically important. Then maybe when she was taken away from him, he would forget, and she could move on peacefully. **

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**Incase you couldn't tell I'm a bit disgruntled. Whatever, do what you want, I know someone out there reads these, lazy. **

**As always, if you would like to submit an idea for me to do I'd be happy to receive it. But not to happy mind you….meanies.**


	7. The Horrible Day

Yay for me! I've gotten two reviews, both good one really constructive. Thanks so much! So I thought of this situation while…umm…lets say… socially experimenting with a bunch of my friends… yeah… that. And there was a black cat involved, and a bunch of people who were not the most sober.

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The Horrible, Rotten, No Good, Very Bad, Day

The damn foggy, damp, muggy morning was already getting to Yoruichi, she had woken up with her hair all frizzed out because of the humidity, it wasn't even raining, it was just….damp. Urahara didn't make it any better by coming in and laughing at her before returning to do whatever it was he was doing before he walked in. "Stupid." She muttered before turning herself into a cat, it felt like a cat day, one to laze around and swipe at customers who bent down and declared her cute.

By ten the day was going mildly better, the mist from the morning had started to drift away and she felt a little less miserable. That is until Ichigo came storming in to ask Urahara something and stomped on her tail as he passed, the following should not be repeated in polite company, let's just say there was a lot of spitting and hissing and much deep toned cussing coming from the small black animal.

Ichigo left after being bandaged up by Ururu, and Jinta sat and made fun of her tail being crooked for a good ten minutes. "If you don't shut up I'm going to tell Tessai that you have a dirty magazine under your mattress." He somehow found something more constructive to do and left her alone to grumble to herself.

"Time for your milk!" Yoruichi did not deserve this, surely she hadn't done anything so bad in her life to warrant a day that was going this bad. "Aw.. What's wrong? Who's got your tail all in a knot?" Urahara was deliberately trying to get a rise out of her, and she gave him what he wanted. As she stood over him naked while he rolled around on the floor clutching his bleeding nose she kicked him once and walked off.

The police arrived ten minutes later down the street where she was walking to clear her head. Apparently she had forgotten to put on clothes and someone had called the fuzz to arrest her for public indecency, good thing that she wasn't around by the time they got out of the car. Ten minutes of watching them looking around from her perch on the curb was mildly interesting, until one of them spit out his gum and it landed in between her ears and stuck there.

More laughing from the idiots when she made her way home, and had to ask Tessai to get it out of her fur, she couldn't turn back into a human, she had more hair then, and God knows how far that would spread the gum. "I'm sorry Yoruichi but I'm going to have to cut it out, it seems to be stuck for good." She growled low in her chest when he left to get the scissors.

"So, what are you going to do now that you'll have a bald spot on the top of your head when you transform?" Yoruichi looked over at Urahara whose nose was packed with cotton from when she had hit him earlier, his hat just barely covering the large black eye that was blooming from it. "Its not my fault, I'm just having a bad day. What the hell is wrong with today anyways?" She had meant it as a rhetorical question but it was answered anyways.

"Your always so calm and collected, it's bound to happen sometime or another for you to have a day as bad as this one. Hey at least no ones thrown up on you today or anything." He reached out and scratched her back, Yoruichi started to purr as her kitty back arched in happiness. "Yes I suppose so…" Tessai was back with the scissors and in three minutes she had an indecently short patch of fur right between her ears. "I'm going out."

It was dark by then and she crept into the alley to think to herself for a little while, maybe she would apologize to Urahara for hitting him earlier, but he was right at least it couldn't get any worse. And then the man came around the corner, obviously drunk, so she hopped off the trashcan she had been sitting on and crouched beside it. Drunks always acted unpredictably, and she didn't want to have to run if he decided to do something foolish.

He stopped and looked down to where she was sitting perfectly still and knelt to get a look at her. "Hello there little kitty! I've got kids… wanna….do you want…" She didn't see it coming, she should have seen it coming, he had looked green when he started talking, she should have moved.

The hardest thing she had ever had to do in life was walk past Urahara, Tessai, Jinta and Ururu covered in some random mans vomit, and hear Urahara sounding like he was having a hysterical seizure as she closed the bathroom door.

No she wouldn't apologize for earlier, even if he had been understanding and nice later. "No, I'm going to smother him later." And with that she ended her horrible, no good, very bad day with a smile on her face and wonderful thoughts of revenge running through her head.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Yeah you kinda guessed it, my friends and I were looking for my friends moms cat that had escaped out the door when one of our friends went out for a smoke, so we were looking for it and we found it. After one of our other not so sober friends had leaned into a bush and puked his guts out. Yeah, gross but I had the wildest idea about Yoruichi having some horrible things happening to her one day all one right after the other. So yeah, review and such. And thank you for the suggestion!


	8. Just Dance

Hello there! Been a long time huh? Oh well I just couldn't think of anything and I was a little preoccupied with my other story, if you want go have a look, but not until you read this. Thanks so much for the two reads this month, I thought everyone had forgotten about it.

As always, Loan officers are snots, and if I owned Bleach I'm sure I wouldn't know this fact.

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Just Dance

Rangiku Matsumoto loved two things in life: booze, and her boobs, coincidently her boobs got her free booze so that was why she loved them so much. She loved other things of course but they fell in line after the two, she was not as bad as a certain lazy captain but still, she could often be seen roping people into drinking games in the Soul Society.

When she came to the world of the living for vacation she knew she only wanted to do one thing, it was important above all others, and she didn't have her captain to bother her and tell her not to do certain things because they were on duty. She wasn't on duty for an entire week, and she was going to party like there was no tomorrow, she had never been to a human dance club and was sure she would have a blast.

Rangiku soon learned that clubs did not open until late at night, so on her first day she had nothing to do but lay around her hotel room and discover something called the internet and Google. "Ooo… how interesting, I wonder if it will tell me what kind of clothes are best, and if I don't have the right ones I'll just have to shop for them!" Shopping came close on her list but no cigar, still it would be foremost as she had nothing to drink until later and her boobs were no use to her when she was alone. After much picture surfing and exclamations of happiness she left her room and venture to the local mall to pick out the most sequined shirts and shortest skirts that were publicly decent for her week out and about.

There was an entire street of clubs right next to each other all down the road for about a mile, she was sure she had ever seen anything so great in her life, all sparkly and bright, some dark, and all she was sure served alcohol.

Hours later she started to feel a little light headed and woozy, by the time the dancing was in full swing she was feeling great, but maybe just a little to much alcohol was in her bloodstream. People were everywhere, dancing, drinking, hugging swaying. Rangiku was in paradise, she loved the atmosphere, and the attention she was getting, the people danced so close it was almost indecent but really who was she to talk about indecency?

"This is so fun!" she shouted to no one in particular but was bought more drinks and twirled around for an hour or so more before she started blurring just a bit. "I think I lost my phone!" she checked the small purse she brought with her and sighed, she couldn't find her keys to the hotel either. More dancing and she realized that she had set her drink down somewhere, "Oh be a dear and get me another drink?" but the man that she had been dancing with had turned to another girl. Another blur of time and she realized that her shirt was turned inside out, "How did that happen?" She looked around and saw that the club was starting to empty out, she couldn't check the time because she had lost her phone, and she couldn't get back into her hotel room because she had lost her key.

"Miss?" She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around a little unsteady on her feet, she was hitting that time in drinking that she was feeling a bit low and just wanted to go home. "Yeah? What do you want honey buns?" She reached out and patted the boys head, she wasn't sure why she had called him that but it seemed like a good idea at the time. "Oh uh, I was wondering if this was yours?" he held out a cell phone and she smiled and jumped up and down in excitement taking it from him. "Oh yes that's mine! Oh aren't you the best boy in the whole world!" She grabbed him around the neck and brought his head down into her boobs and proceeded to smother him in a hug of 'thanks'.

"MMMHHHH!!!" She was being tapped rather violently by the boy so she let him go to see what was wrong with him, but realized that it was because she was suffocating him "Oops! Sorry!" she checked the time, three thirty in the morning, "Oh my it is late isn't it? You haven't happened to see a hotel key laying around have you?" The boy shook his head but looked around and smiled mischievously "No but if you want me and my friends are having a party at one of our houses, you could crash there and go to your hotel in the morning." She looked at him through squinted eyes and felt herself sobering up, "Well okay then! Yay! Another party!" She went with him and had a fabulous time, more dancing more drinking, and she lost her phone again but it was found in the morning by a girl with blue hair who seemed to think that one of the contacts was funny as it said 'Captain'.

"Captain? Who is that? Well whatever they called you like five times this morning, woke us all up." Rangiku caught her phone as it was tossed to her and waved goodbye to all of her new friends and left for her hotel.

When she woke up six hours later in her bed in the hotel it was with a splitting headache and to the screaming ring of her cell phone as it jittered across the nightstand. "Yes?" she asked weakly into the mouthpiece.

"Rangiku? What's wrong with you? I called you last night to see if you had gotten there safely." She pulled the phone away from her head, as he was speaking rather loudly and she was still sleepy from the day of partying that she had taken part in. "Captain! Don't talk so loud, I was going to call you back after I had slept. I don't feel good so call back later kay?" She put the phone back to her ear to hear his reply, "Rangiku what did you do all last night?" Matsumoto smiled and close her eyes "Just danced." and then hung up the phone to dream of the next six days of dancing that she would have.

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Sorry if you thought it sucked, but oh well you should tell me in review if you feel that strongly. So yeah, I had to do it, every time I think of that I think of Rangiku, just way to easy. Oh well reviews are appreciated but not especially expected given ya'lls track record.


	9. Him and Her, Her and Him

Hi there everyone! I'm back and I'm feeling angst today. Thanks to all of you who voted for my story 'Different' over at the Otaku Online Stop. To those who haven't read it yet… what are you waiting for?

I hope this one isn't to sad but I was thinking about it while I was listening to music. Thanks for reading.

If I owned Bleach…. Well… I dunno what I would do with it but I don't so we don't have to worry about that.

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The cycle of souls from one world to the next is always constant, but it takes time although time in the Soul Society has never really been an issue since it seems to take such a long time.

She died at night, her eyes closed in repose and in acceptance that her final wish would be granted. She wouldn't have asked if it hadn't been so important but even now her soul was forgetting what that promise was. He was crying, something she had never heard him do after the first time, he had promised not to cry, but her last words had struck him. "I swear I won't forget you." Everyone knew that when a soul went through the cycle they always came out on the other side with no memories. She had promised him something impossible and it broke him further than her death had.

There was nothing for him to do but to wait, but thinking about it seemed to crack at his carefully placed mask. The man had loved the woman, even though they had only been together a short time, she was the other piece to his soul, and now she was gone in the sea of souls that were making their way to human bodies being born all over the world.

She would find her new family there, and they would love her, she would find love there perhaps children and then she would die after living a full life and end up back in Rukongai happy with her full life. He liked to imagine that that is what waited for her in her new life alive in the world.

It was an accident, he had been sent to the World of the Living to take care of a particularly big hollow. It was an accident that he had seen her, it had been over a hundred and forty years since she had died, and she didn't look the same except her eyes. The eyes are the windows to the soul after all and hers were lit up in the face of a young girl no older than twenty.

She didn't see him but she felt him, when the girl walked by her heart seemed to hurt for some unknown reason. She thought it must be side effects of the cough that she had had for the past couple of weeks, it didn't seem to want to let her go.

It was an accident that he heard the cough that shook her small body, it was a cough he knew, and he felt himself break just a little bit at the thought.

It was not an accident that he followed her home, he watched her interact with her family, laughing and talking and holding a small boy that he assumed was her little brother. He didn't seem to hear anything that they were saying, just the wheeze of her breathing and the voice of her mother telling her that she ought to go to the doctor.

She didn't want to go to the doctor, he cost money and it was money that they didn't have. Her father was sick she explained, all she had was a stubborn cold, she would be fine. He didn't like the way she played it off every time she coughed, it was starting to hurt her he could tell, she was so good at hiding it.

His soul pager beeped, where was he? Why isn't he reporting back? They were stupid questions when faced with the problem at hand. It rang again and he knew he had to leave her, it was the last thing he wanted to do.

She slept with one arm off of the bed, her fingers curled in on her palm, eyelashes closed over dark eyes leaving them laying on her cheek. Taking everything and nothing at the same time he traced her fingers with his hand and then her cheek, then he stood and left her promising to come back to find her.

Waking up in the middle of the night was unusual for her but she had felt her heart pull as if someone she loved had just died, she didn't know what to do, she looked at her hand as it hung off the bed and mourned that the spaces between her fingers were empty, something inside of her told her that it wasn't always that way. She cried as she slept and ignored it all the next morning as her mother forced her to go see the doctor.

Three years to him was like a week, they had passed by so fast and he was devastated by what he saw. When he had finally gotten back to the World of the Living he had not found her at her home, all he had found were dishes piling up and a crying brother with a girl who seemed to be there to watch him. The contact numbers left for the girl in case of emergency told him where to find the rest of the family. A small hospital on the corner of a street was where she was, he could feel himself breaking as he looked at her lying there, memories of a night long since passed seemed to burn him as they passed through his brain.

Twenty three and dying of lung cancer had left her bald and thin, the medicine wasn't doing anything, she was angry and depressed, her father stood in a corner looking out of the window, her mother had gone to pick up her brother to say goodbye to his sister.

He couldn't see the light in her eyes that had told him who she was, it had faded, just like she was fading, he turned out of the room when her brother was brought in, he could hear the child ask why she wouldn't be coming home with him. "I swear I won't forget you." They weren't her last words but they broke him in half just the same, he slumped to the ground and let his sobs shake his body.

Hours later it was night time, his phone had been ringing again, but he had ignored it, he wanted to be the one to take her soul from this place, no one else would have that privilege, even if she didn't remember him.

Her mother and father were asleep, holding each other, she had never loved anyone like they loved each other. She struggled to breathe in, she could feel death at the door, she vaguely wondered if it would be scary, or if it would hurt. Breathing out hurt too, she closed her eyes for awhile and tried to sleep.

He entered the room when she seemed to drift off and stood at the foot of her bed watching her sleep painfully. He wondered how her soul could go through this twice and then her caught himself wondering if it would happen again. She was looking at him and he knew it was almost time, the living could only see Soul Reapers when they were about to die.

She felt her heart swell at the sight of him but she didn't know why, she reached out to him and he took her hand filling the spaces between her fingers with his own. They didn't speak as they were connected, he never wanted to let her go and she didn't want to die without this feeling that she could only describe as love pounding through her.

The monitors beeping franticly were only background, but her painful spasms and the wet sound of her drawing her last painful breath were harder for him to ignore. When you see something that you had never wanted to see again happen it takes a toll on you. Her mother and father screamed and cried, cursing everything that they believed in for taking her from them, then he looked at her, violet eyes grew brighter as they saw the last human image of him standing there holding her hand.

She and he stood there at the edge of her bed as they watched the doctors pronounce her body dead. She went to each of her parents and said a few things, and tried to hug them, then she turned her attention to him and smiled with a smile that he loved.

He held out his hand and she took it, "I told you I wouldn't forget you, Byakuya."

She squeezed his hand as he smiled like she remembered, when times were good. "Let's go home Hisana."

If her soul was destined to always die young and sick, he would make sure that she was loved for as long as he could, and that he would watch over her while she lived without knowledge of him.

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So what did you guys think? I cried when I was writing it but I'm a pansy that way. Okay well I would really really appreciate reviews on this as it is so close to my heart. Come on people its not that hard just click the button and say a few words.


	10. I Know

No, I am not dead, as you can plainly see but the holiday's were horrible this year and I did not have time to write, but here I am again and I hope you enjoy. This one is a bit mushy and sad but you know how I am already so I hope you enjoy it.

By the way…. I don't own any of this.

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Dying is not a comfortable thing, he's been there before a few times, but this is a new experience. Most of the time he is dying alone or at least he is the only one dying at the time, this time she is laying there with him not quite thrown together but still close enough to look at each other as they wait for the inevitable to finally catch up to them.

"We're dying." the blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth had started to congeal and crust along the edges. Ichigo waited for the smart-assed answer of the girl laying next to him but when he did not get it he started to drag himself closer to her to make sure she was alive, he didn't know if he could die somewhat peacefully knowing she had gone first.

As he touched her face she opened her eyes and blinked away the blood that had run through them, "Ichigo, you're an idiot, I'm quite aware of that." She looked pitiful laying there in her own blood but he couldn't deny that he wouldn't want to die laying next to anyone else.

Rukia blinked again since the blood had started flowing into her eye and looked at him very closely, if she had never come to Karakura town would he be happy with the life she had taken him from? Somewhat normal and without any kind of worries besides the worries of the dead that followed him around.

Ichigo had closed his eyes a little bit, feeling heavy and sleepy he was thinking about Rukia, if he hadn't jumped in front of her she would be dead right now, but instead she was dying with him because he hadn't been able to push her out of the way or take the blow sufficiently enough to protect her, and she was dying anyways, but at least he wouldn't be far behind her.

'I love you.' She could only think those words, she had been thinking them for the past year but now she would never say them, they would stay in her mind along with her imagining of his reaction to them. She had hoped that he would love her as well, but she was pretty sure that what she saw in those brown eyes was just the love of a friend and nothing more.

He opened his eyes to her crying pink tears, "Hey…" He dragged himself closer to her as she laid there crying silent tears. It was getting harder to move, the hole in his abdomen wasn't helping with the mobility either.

"Ichigo, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have dragged you into all of this…" the pink tears were turning clear now, but he could tell that they were still there. "Shut up, if you hadn't dragged me into all of this we wouldn't have met." He moved the last few inches to her and wrapped his arm around her careful not to hurt her wound.

She was dying anyways, mind as well do what she wanted, or so her line of thought went. She reached up as he held her and touched his face, her hands shook with goodbyes, she traced his eyes, his lips, even down to his chin, everything that she had memorized and everything that she loved about him.

Not sure if he was feeling what he was feeling he opened his eyes again to see her head buried in his shoulder and her shoulders shaking, from fear or crying he couldn't tell. "Rukia, I need to tell you something." he reached up his free hand and ran it through her hair once, that was all he had strength for now.

She turned her head so she could look up at him, not such a difficult task now that she was so close. "What is it?" She stopped to cough, she could feel it getting harder to breathe, the blood was leaking into her lungs now, that blow was meant for her alone, but he had stood in front of it to protect her.

Ichigo rolled and pushed just a small bit so that they were face to face now, lying in the street in the middle of the night, dying together. She blinked at him, to tired to do much more than that. "Don't be sorry that we met, don't be sorry that were here right now, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." His vision was starting to blur, and he tried to focus on her face harder than he had ever tried anything before.

She stopped crying oddly enough, she just scooted closer to him until they were touching all down the lengths of their bodies, closer than they had ever been. "Ichigo, I don't ever regret meeting you, I don't even feel sorry about where we are right now, I just regret that you have to die too." She curled herself closer to him as her breathing became labored and she prepared to die.

"Stupid idiot." He watched her trying to breathe and for the first time in a long time he could feel that lump of sorrow rising in his throat "Rukia, I know were not going to live though this but I want you to know that I love you okay?" He had taken this long and used up all of his courage and strength left to tell her that and now he waited for what she would say, but the answer never came out.

The last thing that she remembered was his voice and then she was unconscious but she had heard the important message, and she was so sad that she couldn't tell him the exact same thing.

The last thing he remembered was squeezing the small girl with everything he had left in him and then the golden light over their heads and bodies that would save them both if it wasn't to late.


	11. Teenagers: We Don't Know Anything

Okay so here I am again, I hope you guys like it and decide to review, cause that would make me happy.

Disclaimer: I own a rat not Bleach….

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Orihime usually didn't have a dark side but she had been through a lot in her short life and well, she was feeling bitter in this apartment that everyone shared. The purchasing of a residence for them all had been a good idea, the fact that there were hollow attacks almost every day or night, coupled with the fact that all of them were spread pretty far apart made it hard to make sure that everything got taken care of.

So out of practicality they, being Ichigo, Orihime, Chad and Uryu decided to move into an apartment in the center of town so they could get where they were needed in a short amount of time. They all had separate rooms for privacy but her room as next to Ichigo's, naturally, and she had pushed her futon up against the wall she knew he slept against, she had done it because of her feelings for him when they moved in, but now she just did it out of habit.

Orihime had never been terribly, horribly angry at anyone before but right now she was terribly horribly mad at Ichigo and Rukia. It was true that Ichigo and Orihime had dated for a few months prior to this night but he had ended it in the gentlest way possible, telling her that he loved Rukia, and that he didn't want to hurt Orihime in the long run.

"I'm gunna go on, and I'm gunna live like I never met you in the first place." She had decided this to herself , even if it did feel wrong at first, and ignoring the fact that they literally slept no more then three feet apart. If she listened closely she could hear him softly snoring on the other side of the wall, it was like he was everywhere, all around her.

She felt the anger bubble up in her soul and her little fairies burst forth from her hairpins next to the bed and looked down at her very concerned, except for Tsubaki who of course was set apart from the group and kind of understood and was somewhat happy that his keeper was finally mad at something.

Shuno drifted down to look Orihime in the eye and gave her nose a sympathetic pat, "We are very sorry Orihime, we know how much you loved Ichigo." Another pat and Orihime wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Nothing is ever carved in stone you know." Ayame had made one of her rare comments and then retreated back into her hood surprised at herself.

"I always just thought that my first crack at love would be my only crack!" She fairly wailed it but still managed to keep her voice down otherwise she would wake Ichigo, and he being her friend still would come and check on her, and she wasn't sure what she would do if he tried to apologize again.

Bitter tears burst forth from the usually bright girl and her fairies retreated, not sure exactly how to go on with comforting her in this new situation. Orihime thought back to all of the years that she had loved him and pined over him, and how happy she was that he had finally decided to date her. But she was a teenager, and it was true what they said: teenagers don't know anything.

Tsubaki had finally decided that he had had enough off all of her weeping and floated down around her right ear and gave it a sharp tug to get her attention. "Listen here woman, what are you gunna do now that Ichigo and Rukia are going to be together? Are you just going to stay here and watch it?"

Orihime looked at her fierce friend with watery eyes and shrugged, "I don't know, I guess I could leave, I don't want to have to see them together every time she comes over or something." Tsubaki nodded his head, he always seemed to know parts of Orihime's heart that even she wasn't aware of.

"Your right, I'm going to leave, first thing in the morning, I'll stay with Tatsuki while I find another place to live." Her face was still stiff with tears but she laid back down and rolled over getting ready for sleep now that her mind was at rest. Shuno raised an eyebrow at Tsubaki but then just let it go and all of the little spirits went back to the hairpins.

The next morning Orihime was saying goodbye to Chad and Uryu, Ichigo wasn't up yet, he had been awake for two days prior to the break up episode and she really didn't care if she told him bye or not, her mind was made up and she didn't want anyone complicating things.

"Inoue-San, you know you don't have to leave just because you're afraid that Ichigo and you will be awkward, I'm sure that things will be fine." Uryu pushed his glasses up his nose and blushed a bit as she smiled at him. "Thank you for that Uryu, but this is for the best, I need to grow up a little bit."

Chad as usual didn't say anything but he patted her on the head, he had always liked Orihime, she didn't need to be talked back to, and he liked to listen to the small girls worries, and day, and odd recipe suggestions. At that moment Ichigo stumbled into the kitchen where Orihime was standing with all of her bags getting ready to go out the door.

"Orihime, where are you going?" He looked confused, and guilty, he figured it was his fault that this was going on. Orihime turned to look at him and shrugged, "Don't ask me where I'll go, cause frankly I don't know." She was tempted to cuss but held back, she didn't want to disillusion them and she wasn't sure that she had it in her to cuss.

"This doesn't make any sense, you don't have to leave just because of what happened between us…." He trailed off and shrugged looking at her hopefully, he liked having her around, and he liked having her as a friend, it would be a shame to lose her over something like a break up.

"Why do we have to make sense out of what doesn't make sense?" She shrugged as she turned back to the door and picked up her bags to head out to Tatsuki's "For once, I'm just gunna live." She smiled at them all one more time and went out the door towards whatever it was that she was going towards. Tsubaki materialized at her shoulder and patted her ear, "That's more like it…" She likened him a little bit to a devil that she had heard of in childrens stories that sat on their shoulder and told them to do naughty things but she knew Tsubaki was only trying to help her so she just smiled and nodded her head, it was time for a change.

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Alright, so what did you guys think? Really anything, sorry if you don't like Orihime in this one but hey, she can only be pushed so far before she just does what she wants right? I was thinking about making a soundtrack to this collection, what do you think?


	12. Runaway

Hello everyone, sorry I've been absent for so long, just getting my life in order I guess. By the way you only have about a month more of me to stand before I'm gone from writing for awhile. I joined the military and my training begins in a month or so, I'll miss writing for all of you, but it was fun while it lasted and I'll be back after awhile.

Anyways! enjoy the story if you want, it would be nice if you like it.

As always, I don't own Bleach.

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Their mother and father were never the best parents, hell who was he kidding, they were the worst parents imaginable. His father was a drunk bastard who didn't give a damn about him or his little sister, and his mother was what one would call a woman of questionable honor, and they were both violent to the core.

When he was small they used to beat him but as he grew older he learned to stay out of sight and out of mind with them, there were times that he could swear that they didn't remember that they had a son at all. Orihime was another issue all together, she was born as bright as the sun, and that is where the horror of their family life began to quickly deteriorate into something much more evil that what it had been. Both his father and mother had dark hair and dark eyes, the beautiful little girl that they brought home had hair the color of the early sunset and eyes that were blue but were fading to grey with every passing day.

He was fifteen when the small girl was brought home and basically dropped into a crib, their mother could care less, to her Orihime was just an accident that didn't need to be tended to much, but to their father the girl was an embarrassment to him, she was clearly not his child, and his rage fueled his hatred for his wife and her new child.

When he reached out the first time to shake the crying baby, Sora, who had been largely silent and hidden this entire time jumped from his position and snatched his little sister from their enraged father, the beating still happened but it was the boy who received most of the blows, the baby only caught a few of the misaimed slaps to his arms as he held her.

This pattern continued for a few years, but the hatred in the house was growing thicker and even the smallest snuffle from the girl would cause their father and even sometimes their mother to fly on her and start hitting and beating the poor girl for just being there. Sora would always come to her rescue though, once fighting back and ending up with a broken arm for his protection of her.

He would never forget what would happen three years after Orihime was born, a week before he got the paycheck that would give him enough money to take them both away from their evil parents.

Orihime always slept with Sora, he had hardly let her sleep anywhere else since she had first been brought home, in case she woke up in the night and started walking around the house looking for comfort. The first thumps of the fight woke him up and he lay there on the bed holding the little girl tight to him, ready to jump up and protect her in case on of the deamons they lived with came through the door in a drunken fit and tried to hurt them.

They fought for what seemed like hours, shouting horrible things at one another, screaming that they would kill one or the other, and then it happened, and he remembered his mothers last words as if he himself had been in the room. "Go ahead, you don't have the balls to do it, that this is probably not even loaded…" He heard her draw a breath, perhaps to continue insulting the violent man that she was married to, perhaps she was just going to leave having verbally castrated him, but no one would ever know.

The gunshot rang through the house and woke Orihime with a start, there was no more noise and he would never know why he did it but he got up and left the girl on the bed and walked out of their bedroom to look down the hall. A teddy bear that he had gotten Orihime once was laying on its side in the hall, he had seen it in their room many times before but there was a tragic air about the way that it laid there now, glass eyes reminding him of what might have happened in the other room.

Slowly he made his way to the room at the end of the hall, their door was slightly ajar and he pushed it open with a feeling of surrealism that would not leave him. Their father was standing over their mother, she was facing the door with her eyes wide open and blood trailing from a hole in her forehead, her eyes were glassy like the bears and he felt strange that he likened that to his bitch of a mother.

The man in the room turned and looked at Sora and raised the gun, he closed his eyes and thought of how stupid he was to have not grabbed Orihime at the first shot and run away for the house of horrors. All there was, was a click, the sound of an empty gun, Sora opened his eyes and saw the man go to the dresser where there were bullets sitting out ready to be loaded, he supposed that he had only bothered to put on in the gun in his haste to kill the woman.

By the time the man turned around with a gun that held three more bullets Sora had run down the hall and yanked a still confused Orihime out of bed and toward the front door. "Sora-nii? Where are we going?" She was confused, and crying and as the boy ran with the girl clutched tightly to him he wiped the teardrops out of her cold grey eyes, and tried to think of an answer. "Were running away," and then more to himself "We have to get away from here, get out of sight…." He thought about how his father had shot his mother square in the head, and he knew with all of his heart and soul that he would have killed both him and Orihime if they hadn't run away.

"Brother? What happened? What was that banging noise?" Sora felt himself crying, not for his parents but for the little girl that he loved so dearly, the one thing in his life that was like a warm breath of spring into his otherwise cold and horrible world. "Your gunna grow up to be someone someday, someone important who will help a lot of people, but it all depends on how we run away."

Orihime didn't understand it at the time, but as she grew older and as she helped with the various tasks that were required to save the world from things that she didn't know of before, she knew her brother had been right, and if he hadn't saved them that night she would not be here.

She thought it was strange that she was thinking of her brother while she watched Ulquiorra disappear into ash and blow away, she didn't hear much of what anyone had to say after that, but she knew that she had to run away into the night once more, but this time she would lose a person that was important to her instead of them making the escape together.


	13. So Nice

Holy holes and donuts Batman! I'm back! Never thought it would happen did you? Well after two months of boot camp, one month getting settled in and two whole months underway making sure nothing bad happened in the Bering, I am back in action and it's nice to write again let me tell you. This is kind of sad but I'm writing it anyways, much love and thanks for reading in advance.

DISCLAIMER: I'll get masted if I don't.

Sitting under a tree in the Rukongai two children spoke of many things, what they could steal for dinner, if one of their friends who had been missing for three days would eventually turn up, and what they would do when they were grown up a little bit more.

"We'll open up a shop and give out food to kids for free but make the adults who can pay for it." Renji was always trying to think ahead, Rukia on the other hand was always thinking in the now, what would happen in a few years was of no concern to her, she might not make it a few more years so why worry was her outlook.

"Maybe, right now though we're kids and we don't have to worry about stuff like that." She was letting him down easy, not hurting his feelings when she shot down his dreams of the future. The small girl stood up and was framed by the light of the setting sun and Renji was again struck by how much he might actually love this girl, even though he was just a boy and didn't even understand the magnitude of such thoughts.

He eventually stood up and went to stand next to her to ask her a question that would later become the bane of his existence. "Hey Rukia? What kind of boy do you think you'll marry one day?

Large violet eyes rolled over to look at him and she blinked a few times before shrugging and walking off, "I'm to young to think of that now, I'll think of that later." He knew better than to push her when she had given what she found to be a satisfying answer and so he left it alone, and soon it was forgotten in the mess of other things in their lives.

A few weeks later they were fishing in the brown river near their makeshift home and he was once again thinking ahead into the future as he looked at her fighting with a particularly wriggly fish. "Hey Rukia, you never answered, what kind of boy do you think you'll end up with?"

She walked up to him and handed him the fish while she rolled her eyes and shrugged, she knew he wouldn't give up on this question, he was always like this, he would get stuck on one thing and not leave her alone until he got an answer. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Because I just wanna know that you look into the future sometimes, I know you don't like to." He began to cut up the fish for cooking and she started the fire, and slowly they sunk into silence until she forgot that he had even asked a question. "So? Do you have an answer?" She thought for a moment and then shrugged again.

"I think I'll marry and amputee with a stamp collection." Renji frowned and he knew it wasn't a real answer, but he also knew that question time was over for now and he would take that ridiculous answer for now.

When they entered Soul Reaper Academy they had less time together and still the question would surface every now and then but he never asked it, they were at an age now that it didn't seem appropriate for him to ask her something like that, they weren't kids anymore after all.

One night he walked past her room and heard her whimpering and crying to herself in her sleep, she was having a nightmare like she used to have when they would curl up on the cold floor of their hut during storms. He pushed her door open and walked in shutting it behind him and going to the bed where he did what he had always done in those days, he laid down and wrapped himself around her until she stopped crying and actually woke up.

"You're so nice, so smart, and your such a good friend." She was half asleep and not making much sense but he would take what he could get from her, because he could feel in his bones that she wasn't always going to be around for him to see. He had the urge to ask her but he decided it could wait until tomorrow, little did he know that tomorrow she would be taken from him for a very long time.

Years and years later almost to many to count the same two sat under a tree in Karakura Town, watching their human world friends play something called Frisbee which seemed to be a pointless game of hitting each other with a plastic disc and the one who managed to catch it was deemed the better player.

Once again Renji was thinking on the future and that day from so long ago rose into his mind as he sat there blankly looking at everything in front of him. He thought of the shop that they never opened and then he realized that she had never given him an answer to what kind of man she would marry one day. Looking over she was sitting there looking the way she always did, small and perfect, and watching the game with great intrest and she seemed distracted enough by it that she might actually give a real answer this time.

"Hey Rukia? What kind of man do you think you'll marry one day?" She looked over to him and shrugged, "Like what kind of boy do I like?" He shrugged and finally nodded, "Yeah I guess so." He hoped that she would say him, but he knew deep down that she wouldn't.

She looked out to the game again and he watched her eyes follow the serious looking boy with the ridiculously bright hair for a moment before she answered. "I like boys with strong convictions, an underdog with good intentions, someone always seriously joking and rambunctiously soft spoken." She looked at Ichigo again and shrugged before continuing, "I like boys that like their mothers." She stopped and looked at Renji who had a neutral expression on his face. "That's quite a list you have there." He remembered when she had told him that he was such a good friend, and now she was breaking his heart, she had torn his world apart and now he had to pretend that she hadn't.

"Yeah I guess so, better than an amputee with a stamp collection though." She knew what he was asking, he was such a good friend she had to break his heart, she just hoped he could keep pretending that she hadn't just torn his world apart.

Jeez Louise, I feel like I haven't written in forever, so I hope it wasn't as bad as I think it was. Well I mean I like it but I don't think I can judge it anymore. Oh well… hopefully I get some reviews, thanks for reading.


	14. Lost

The Guard has made me angsty lately… Hope you like it though, it's a continuation of the previous chapter I Know. Someone had said that they would like to see another chapter on it so here you go. Thanks for being patient and sticking with me through all of the rough times.

This is a disclaimer…. DISCLAIMED!

She woke up to gold light, and the sound of someone above her sobbing quietly, the smell of fresh cotton was strong, and the taste of blood was still in her mouth. She didn't feel him though, he had been there just a moment ago, speaking to her, telling her all of the things he had waited till the last minute to tell her. 'I love you.' it was simple, those words, they dropped from him and they were the last things she remembered before now.

"Ichigo?" the sobbing above her grew louder and then it quieted again, down to an almost inaudible pitch but it was still there. She was so tired, her body ached and she couldn't see very well, the darkness took her once again and she slept under that golden dome of light.

Voices woke her next, the hushed murmurs of people trying not to wake her, she kept her eyes closed and listened to them soothed by the fact that she was not dead. "Who is going to tell her?" The voice was familiar, and the crying from a girl started again.

"Oh, Mr. Urahara I tried… I really did… I just…" The sentence wasn't finished however because the girl was crying to hard to finish speaking, she heard the door open and the crying faded out and she realized that the crier had left the room.

She heard a heavy sigh and felt a large hand brush her hair out of her face, "Do we have to? I don't think I can do that to her." She was nervous at these words, what did they need to tell her? What would happen when they did? She thought back to what she remembered, laying in the street with Ichigo dying, holding each other as he told her that he loved her and she hadn't been able to say it back because everything had faded and she thought that she had died.

Urahara was here, and she was sure the girls voice was Orihime, the large hand was known well and had to belong to Renji, but there was someone missing, someone who had to be there. Where was Ichigo? Was he laying in another room in the same situation?

She opened her eyes and looked up and met ceiling, no light and no blurry outline of a girl above her. "Rukia, your awake!" Renji took his hand from her forehead and gave her a relieved half smile, he looked like he hadn't slept in days. She turned her head to the side to see Urahara sitting cross legged in the corner of the room but she didn't see anyone else upon her visual search of the rest of the room.

"What happened?" Rukia sat up and looked around again, locking eyes with Urahara who looked away from her with shame in his eyes. Renji scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth to tell her when the door opened again to admit Orihime who had Chad and Uryu behind her.

Orihime had always been an emotional person and when she saw Rukia sitting up and awake she started crying softly again and threw herself at the smaller girl and hugged her softly, as if she might break if she hugged her to hard. "Oh Rukia, I'm so glad your okay, I healed you for almost a day straight till Mr. Urahara said that I needed to take a break and then you slept for three whole days and now your awake." She released Rukia and sat back on her heels, wiping the tears out her eyes she looked at Renji as if she was asking a question and he shook his head.

"What's going on? What happened after I blacked out?" She looked at each person and they all avoided her look, the panic started rising in her chest, along with the question that would nearly kill her. "Where is Ichigo?" She looked at each person again, Chad and Uryu looked at each other and then at the ground, Renji reached towards her but pulled back at the last moment and looked away as well, Urahara still had a shamed look to him even though she could see little of his face past the hat. Orihime started crying again and buried her face in her hands, "Rukia, I'm so sorry…. I couldn't…."

Rukia didn't hear the rest, she was already up and walking out of the door, "Ichigo?" She called his name like a lost child calls for their mother, "Ichigo?" She opened the door to the next room but it was empty, she turned, walking faster down the hall towards the next room. "Ichigo? Where are you?" The panic was rising like bile in her throat, hot and acidic and unwelcome. The rooms were all empty, he wasn't there, she searched again, even going so far as to search the bathroom. "Ichigo!" She yelled his name now, thinking that if she repeated it enough he would come for her, find her in her despairing thoughts and save her like he had in Soul Society.

"Rukia…" It was Renji, standing there in front of her looking more sad than she had ever seen him. "Renji…Where is Ichigo?" Her eyes were shiny, she was more pale than she had ever been but he still whispered the words that would break her "Rukia, Ichigo is… he died."

It was blank, it hurt, like a needle though her heart, burning white hot and raging inside of her, boiling and building. "Orihime tried so hard to save both of you, we were just in time to save you, but Ichigo was to far gone when we got there. She tried for hours to heal him, but she couldn't, she stopped when you started to slip further away. She saved you but she couldn't save him, I'm so sorry Rukia."

She stood there numb and shocked not looking at anything just absorbing the words, the story of what had happened, she had lived, he had died, he was dead, Ichigo was gone, she would never see him again, never, he had been a Soul Reaper when he had died, that meant his soul had just disintegrated when he had expired. Gone, gone, gone, gone, dead, lost, take from her before she could tell him that she loved him to.

The world should have ended, she should have dropped dead at the news but she was just standing there and the rage stared to build, it just needed a trigger, and Renji trying to reach out and hold her was what set it off. She shoved him and started to cry, quietly at first and then she started yelling. "Why? Why did you choose me over him? Why didn't you just let me die and let him live?" She was growing louder, her sorrow pushing its way through every bit of her, "Where were you when we were fighting that thing? Why weren't you there to help us?" She was blaming him now and getting louder, and Orihime came out of the room and started to come towards the small torn girl, "Rukia… I…"

"Shut up! Why! Why? I know you loved him too, but you let him die anyways! Why would you do that?" Orihime stumbled away from her as if she had been struck and then ran from her and out of the door, everyone was to shocked to say anything at first and then Renji spoke.

"Rukia, we didn't choose you over him, he was gone when we got there, there was nothing she could do to save him, she tried, we couldn't let you die too." She felt like she had been punched in the chest and started crying again.

"Renji, please, please tell me its not true…" She was clinging to hope, the last shreds that this was some sick joke and Ichigo was just at his home, his father and sisters taking care of him. "Please…"

Renji put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them, shaking his head he spoke again, "I'm so sorry Rukia, Ichigo is… he's gone."

Rukia backed away from his touch shaking her head, the panic and realization building in her, "No, no, no, no…" She shook her head and bumped against a wall when she came to the end of the hall and slid down it into a sitting position, knees to her chest. "Ichigo! Please, please come back, don't leave me, I needed to tell you that I love you, please!" She was screaming as she cried now, the words were barely understandable but they were heard and Renji didn't know what to do, her sorrow seemed to burn white hot and he couldn't touch her. She kept calling the dead boy but he never answer her, and soon she just screamed, a sound that told of heart break and pain.

She screamed until he throat was raw, she cried and called for him, he never answered and soon she grew quiet the belief finally setting in and crippling her from the inside out. They moved her to bed when she wouldn't respond to their questions or even look at them.

Months passed and she slowly became less catatonic but she still hadn't spoken since then, she had moved from blaming other people to blaming herself and then she had stopped blaming all together, but the pain was still there, and he was still gone.

She missed his soft lips that she had touched that last time, his white sheets on his bed and the extras that she had slept on in his closet, the scratchiness of his newly grown stubble against her cheek as they held each other when they were dying.

It was so hard moving towards the acceptance that he was dead, she didn't see that he was the love of her life and she just didn't see it till it was to late. Renji made her go out of her room every day and she would take walks, sometimes she would see a bright flash of orange and start running towards it before she realized it wasn't what she was looking for. Once she thought she saw him in the street but it turned out to be some kid who had bleached his hair orange and he didn't understand when she ran from him after she had pulled him round to look at his face that was all wrong under the orange mop.

She smiled sometimes, Orihime came and saw her every day and talked to her, not minding that she was never answered. She had stopped apologizing because every time she did Rukia would turn from her and the other girl would sense that she was going inside of herself.

She most frequently slept in her closet and never in her bed, it just didn't feel right to her, sometimes she would scream his name in her sleep and pull open the door to look towards the bed to see if he was there, he never was.

She would remember odd times with him, like when they had snuck into the concert of some band that he had the shirt of, they stayed in the back on the grass where they could hear the music but not really see the band to well but she had grabbed his hand and told him that it was the best night of her life. He had smiled and told her that it was worth it then to have such crappy seats.

She had asked him once if they would always be friends and he had said yes, of course they would be they would live forever as far as he knew so why shouldn't they be friends forever? She realized now that it was her past life, and it was a beautiful time that she would give anything to have back to have him sleeping in the bed and her in the closet and maybe one day she would have snuck into the bed and they would have held each other.

They say that true love hurts and this could almost kill her, it was murder, that hollow had murdered a young love that hadn't even been fully realized till it was to late. As the days passed and she had stopped blaming people she started fading, they watched her fade, and then she didn't want to eat anymore. Her heart was bleeding from the break that had been put in it, they watched her everyday, Renji tried everything he could to make her eat, or make her care about something again.

Desperation took him and he gave her the one thing that he had taken from Ichigos body before he had faded from existence, the red looked garish next to her pale skin as she clutched it in her hands but she didn't say anything. She slept with the red rope, and wore it around her during the day, she started eating after that but it didn't seem to help her any, she kept fading from them.

Orihime came one day and tried to make her fairies heal Rukia but Tsubaki in an unusually gentle way for him told the busty girl that they could not turn back a broken heart, that it was there for good and they could not help her.

"Rukia, I wish I could have saved him, I knew he loved you and I had accepted that and wished you both well. I'm so sorry that I couldn't do anything for him, please don't leave us too." She leaned forward and hugged her in that always gentle way and started for the exit from the room, "Orihime?" She turned and looked back at the pale girl with the large eyes who had spoken for the first time in months, "I'm sorry I blamed you, I didn't mean it, thank you for trying to help him." She turned towards the window and looked out of it again as if she had never spoken and Orihime nodded and left the room.

Her brother even came to try to speak to her but he knew there was little that could be done or said when he saw her. "Rukia, please understand that I know what you are going through, I loved your sister very much and when she died I wanted to lock myself away and do the same thing you are right now but I fought against it and you need to fight to." He was rarely this caring, but she barely heard him, she just looked at him once, clutched the red that hung about her frail frame and nodded.

A few months later they couldn't wake her, she had gone from them in the night, they found her in the bed for the first time ever, wrapped around a pillow the red rope draped over her body and her face looked peaceful, the gigai that she had been living in was empty and they knew that she had died finally. Renji understood she hadn't been able to go on without Ichigo, he hoped to see them both again one day and he sincerely hoped that they were happy together wherever they were.

She woke to orange hair and brown eyes, "I love you Ichigo."

Oh well yes I'm a bit depressive I guess but who cares, this is the most I've written in a long time and I just couldn't stop once I got started. I'm sorry if this is not the happy ending you wanted but this just seemed to fit better to me. Anyways I would love some feed back so go ahead and push that little button there that says review. Maybe I'll do another side of this where they both live later… what do you guys think?


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